CAT WORSHIP

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 24, 29 January 1934, Page 13

CAT WORSHIP

NEW JOURNAL AND CLUB

■ Tiiere is no nobler or more'redeeming trait in the human raco than its patient and sustained devotion to cats, says a writer in the London "Times.1 Now, at long last, there are somo signs of a reward. In the latest expression of cat worship, the new journal called "Our Cats"—it has been founded in conjunction with the Mieaou Club, which both human beings and cats can join and where they will meet on an equal footing—there is an account of the changes in the characters of cats which have occurred in the last twenty years. They aro changes, say the experts, whplly to the good. Continuous comfort and ease is good for cats and they stand prosperity well. They are now less fiorco and defiant, and the number of cans tied to their tails is shown statistically to bo decreasing year by year, as children grow proportionately fewer and as the now fashion of living in flats and. tenements increases the area of civilised life from which dogs are excluded. The- groat towns, whoso growth so many human beings deplore, are welcomed by cats, who find the country monotonous and under-equipped, with good climbing grounds and other gymnastic apparatus, and much prefer undulating chimney-pot country. - A NEW FASTIDIOUSNESS. If anybody should undertake to write a Cats 5 Cavalcade of tho.ks.t- thirty years, it would-be a cheerful and inspiring story of conditions growing steadily more favourable for cab life. 'Vtoy soon it will be difficult to remomber or imagine the time when cats needed nine lives to make any mark on the world; one is sufficient now. A new fastidiousness has crept into their diet, and one expert has reported that present-day cats have lost their relish for rat flesh, and only fancy the more delicate flavour of the mouse. There is unfortunately ground for suspecting the courage of some of the finely bred cats of today, who have been observed to shrink away from ra-ts and even to show misgivings on the appearance of a largo mouse. Litters are becoming fewer and the kittens smaller, and it is plain that the greater amiability of cats today is being bought at a price. Their friendship is more forthcoming, but rather less worth having. The day may conio when- mice and rats 'assume the upper hand, or claw, and when cats habitually flee. Cats must uot lose their nevve, and must endeavour to combine a now roputation for good nature with the old reputation, if not,fol' indiscriminate courage, at any rate for fearless mousing. Because there is no doubt that their musical talents are oarning them fcss admiration today. Ono sign of whafis happening can bo noticed in the programmes of tho 8.8.0., which.tries to cater for every- widespread taste. That corporation, which spends long evenings in tho woods near Piuigbourne to catch the song of tho nightingale; has not as yet taken any steps, simple and inexpensive though they would be, to broadcast the cat.